How Gazelle is reducing downtime by 35% using Workerbase
Find out how Royal Dutch Gazelle is increasing their factory throughput using Workerbase.
“This platform is now essential to us [...] we are now expanding the use of Workerbase globally, and have already implemented it at additional plants as part of our core production infrastructure.”
Johan Frinsel
Assembly Manager at Royal Dutch Gazelle
About Royal Dutch Gazelle
Royal Dutch Gazelle has been a bicycle manufacturer for over 130 years and is the leading bicycle manufacturer in the Netherlands. As a subsidiary of PON group, they produce a variety of bikes including e-bikes and are a premium Dutch brand. Their factories assemble bikes along a belt driven system and produce around 300,000 bicycles a year.
Industry
Bicycle Manufacturing
Company Size
~750 Employees
Specialties
Known for award-winning designs and recognized by the Dutch royal family for their achievements. They officially bear the title of Royal Dutch Gazelle.
The Challenge
Gazelle approached Workerbase with the goal of reducing the downtime of their assembly belt. The downtimes were not recorded in a central system and the root causes of belt stops were largely unknown.
- There was no easy way to tackle these challenges with traditional technology
- The duration of belt stoppages were not being recorded reliably, leading to a lack of transparency
- Support staff were not adequately prepared when responding to incidents because the root cause was only clear after arrival at the station
- The assembly belt was stopped by simple push buttons and the reasons for stopping were unknown
The Solution
Workerbase helped Gazelle overcome their challenges by implementing a Digital Andon system for executing and recording belt stops.
- 1Data collected during this process is centralized into one analytics tool to identify trends in root causes of belt stops.
- 2Belt support staff are equipped with Smartwatches to receive belt stop notifications in real-time.
- 3Operators are prompted to record the root cause when triggering a belt stoppage, verified by support staff after resolution.
- 4The Andon system is directly connected to the belt PLC to stop and restart the line.
The Results
With the added transparency, Gazelle was able to analyze the root causes of their belt stops and take preventive action. From day one of implementing Workerbase, Gazelle was able to avoid a significant amount of line stops and produce more bikes every day. The solution amortized in less than 3 months.
Reduced Downtimes
The team reduced production downtime by 35% by using real-time data to continuously improve the production process.
Increased Throughput
An extra 3,500 bikes produced every year with no additional equipment or workers.
Continuous Improvement
Through collaboration with Workerbase, Gazelle is empowered to discover more areas for improvement using the platform.
Discover Why Industry Leaders Choose Workerbase
- Empower workers with industrial grade smart devices and AI
- Integrate your ERP and MES systems onto one unified platform
- Leverage and analyze data from your entire manufacturing ecosystem